Overview: The rapid changing health care environment has put enormous strain on health care workers at all levels. Consequences of job stress are of interest to both service and education with links to poor work performance, acute and chronic health problems, job turnover, and employee burnout. Individuals high in hardiness have been found to experience less stress and exhibit greater adaptive coping strategies. Often nurses come to the role of nurse manager with little or no managerial skills. Most are not prepared for the demands on time, energy, and inner resources called for in these roles and they often experience high levels of stress. Evaluating associations between stress, coping, and hardiness among nurse managers may offer both service and education the opportunity to enhance personal resources of those currently in or planning to be in mid-level nurse manager (MLNM) positions. Purpose: This study evaluated the association between stress, coping strategies and the degree of hardiness among MLNMs. Further, specific demographic data were evaluated to determine the extent of associations between hardiness and coping strategies among this sample. Method: This descriptive study surveyed 200 MLNMs working in hospitals in north Texas via a mailed questionnaire consisting of demographic information, Perceived Stress Scale, Hardiness Scale, and Ways of Coping Questionnaire. Of these, 149 (75%) were returned. Four were deleted due to incomplete information; final N=145. Results: As hypothesized, stress was significantly higher among nurses whose coping strategies tended to include confrontation, self-controlling, accepting responsibility, and escape-avoidance. High hardiness was associated with low stress levels and with coping strategies of seeking social support, planful problem solving, and positive reappraisal, while low hardiness was associated with higher stress and use of escape-avoidance. Higher stress was also significant among those younger with fewer years in nursing and management and those having fewer numbers of direct reports. Significance: Use of this information can assist both service and education. Nurse administrators may find that information relative to increasing hardiness and enhancing adaptive coping strategies among managers and their workforce could reduce stress and produce higher levels of commitment, problem-solving, increased performance, job satisfaction, and positive impacts on patient outcomes. Further, as part of student preparation for roles in management, teaching hardiness and adaptive coping strategies might prove beneficial by increasing resistance to stress and increasing use of problem-focused coping strategies. Diminishing negative effects of stress has the potential for producing a healthier workforce thus providing benefits to both students and their future employers.

Repository Posting Date:

27-Oct-2011

Date of Publication:

27-Oct-2011

Conference Host:

Southern Nursing Research Society

Note:

This is an abstract-only submission. If the author has submitted a full-text item based on this abstract, you may find it by browsing the Virginia Henderson Global Nursing e-Repository by author. If author contact information is available in this abstract, please feel free to contact him or her with your queries regarding this submission. Alternatively, please contact the conference host, journal, or publisher (according to the circumstance) for further details regarding this item. If a citation is listed in this record, the item has been published and is available via open-access avenues or a journal/database subscription. Contact your library for assistance in obtaining the as-published article.

Full metadata record

DC Field

Value

Language

dc.type.category

Abstract

en_US

dc.type

Presentation

en_GB

dc.title

Hardiness and Coping Among Mid-level Nurse Managers: Implications for Education and Practice

Overview: The rapid changing health care environment has put enormous strain on health care workers at all levels. Consequences of job stress are of interest to both service and education with links to poor work performance, acute and chronic health problems, job turnover, and employee burnout. Individuals high in hardiness have been found to experience less stress and exhibit greater adaptive coping strategies. Often nurses come to the role of nurse manager with little or no managerial skills. Most are not prepared for the demands on time, energy, and inner resources called for in these roles and they often experience high levels of stress. Evaluating associations between stress, coping, and hardiness among nurse managers may offer both service and education the opportunity to enhance personal resources of those currently in or planning to be in mid-level nurse manager (MLNM) positions. Purpose: This study evaluated the association between stress, coping strategies and the degree of hardiness among MLNMs. Further, specific demographic data were evaluated to determine the extent of associations between hardiness and coping strategies among this sample. Method: This descriptive study surveyed 200 MLNMs working in hospitals in north Texas via a mailed questionnaire consisting of demographic information, Perceived Stress Scale, Hardiness Scale, and Ways of Coping Questionnaire. Of these, 149 (75%) were returned. Four were deleted due to incomplete information; final N=145. Results: As hypothesized, stress was significantly higher among nurses whose coping strategies tended to include confrontation, self-controlling, accepting responsibility, and escape-avoidance. High hardiness was associated with low stress levels and with coping strategies of seeking social support, planful problem solving, and positive reappraisal, while low hardiness was associated with higher stress and use of escape-avoidance. Higher stress was also significant among those younger with fewer years in nursing and management and those having fewer numbers of direct reports. Significance: Use of this information can assist both service and education. Nurse administrators may find that information relative to increasing hardiness and enhancing adaptive coping strategies among managers and their workforce could reduce stress and produce higher levels of commitment, problem-solving, increased performance, job satisfaction, and positive impacts on patient outcomes. Further, as part of student preparation for roles in management, teaching hardiness and adaptive coping strategies might prove beneficial by increasing resistance to stress and increasing use of problem-focused coping strategies. Diminishing negative effects of stress has the potential for producing a healthier workforce thus providing benefits to both students and their future employers.

en_GB

dc.date.available

2011-10-27T14:34:40Z

-

dc.date.issued

2011-10-27

en_GB

dc.date.accessioned

2011-10-27T14:34:40Z

-

dc.conference.host

Southern Nursing Research Society

en_US

dc.description.note

This is an abstract-only submission. If the author has submitted a full-text item based on this abstract, you may find it by browsing the Virginia Henderson Global Nursing e-Repository by author. If author contact information is available in this abstract, please feel free to contact him or her with your queries regarding this submission. Alternatively, please contact the conference host, journal, or publisher (according to the circumstance) for further details regarding this item. If a citation is listed in this record, the item has been published and is available via open-access avenues or a journal/database subscription. Contact your library for assistance in obtaining the as-published article.

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